January 15
Events
Pre-1600
- 69 - Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
- 1535 - King Henry VIII issues letters patent incorporating the title Supreme Head of the Church of England into his royal title.
- 1541 - King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith".
- 1559 - Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England and Ireland in Westminster Abbey, London.
- 1582 - Truce of Yam-Zapolsky: Russia cedes Livonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1601–1900
- 1759 - The British Museum opens to the public.
- 1777 - American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut declares its independence.
- 1782 - Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris addresses the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
- 1815 - War of 1812: American frigate, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
- 1818 - A paper by David Brewster is read to the Royal Society, belatedly announcing his discovery of what we now call the biaxial class of doubly-refracting crystals. On the same day, Augustin-Jean Fresnel signs a "supplement" on reflection of polarized light.
- 1822 - Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected president of the legislative assembly.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
- 1867 - Forty people die when ice covering the boating lake at Regent's Park, London, collapses.
- 1870 - Thomas Nast publishes a political cartoon symbolizing the Democratic Party with a donkey for Harper's Weekly.
- 1876 - The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Afrikaanse Patriot, is published in Paarl.
- 1889 - The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta.
- 1892 - James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
1901–present
- 1908 - The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.
- 1910 - Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at.
- 1911 - Palestinian Arabic-language Falastin newspaper founded.
- 1919 - Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent communists in Germany, are clubbed and then shot to death by members of the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.
- 1919 - Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.
- 1934 - The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI, killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people.
- 1936 - The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
- 1937 - Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republicans both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
- 1943 - World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
- 1943 - The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington County, Virginia.
- 1947 - The Black Dahlia murder: The dismembered corpse of Elizabeth Short is found in Los Angeles.
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist government.
- 1962 - The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
- 1962 - Netherlands New Guinea Conflict: Indonesian Navy fast patrol boat RI Macan Tutul commanded by Commodore Yos Sudarso sunk in Arafura Sea by the Dutch Navy.
- 1966 - The First Nigerian Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d'état.
- 1967 - The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
- 1969 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
- 1970 - Nigerian Civil War: Biafran rebels surrender following an unsuccessful 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria.
- 1970 - Muammar Gaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
- 1973 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
- 1975 - The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.
- 1976 - Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
- 1977 - Linjeflyg Flight 618 crashes in Kälvesta near Stockholm Bromma Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, killing 22 people.
- 1981 - Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from the Polish trade union Solidarity at the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa.
- 1991 - The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
- 1991 - Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.
- 2001 - Wikipedia, a free wiki content encyclopedia, is launched.
- 2005 - ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the Moon.
- 2009 - US Airways Flight 1549 ditches safely in the Hudson River after the plane collides with birds less than two minutes after take-off. This becomes known as "The Miracle on the Hudson" as all 155 people on board were rescued.
- 2013 - A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derails near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others.
- 2015 - The Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the Swiss franc's value relative to the euro, causing turmoil in international financial markets.
- 2016 - The Kenyan Army suffers its worst defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia. An estimated 150 Kenyan soldiers are killed in the battle.
- 2018 - British multinational construction and facilities management services company Carillion goes into liquidationofficially, "the largest ever trading liquidation in the UK".
- 2019 - Somali militants attack the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya killing at least 21 people and injuring 19.
- 2019 - Theresa May's UK government suffers the biggest government defeat in modern times, when 432 MPs voting against the proposed European Union withdrawal agreement, giving her opponents a majority of 230.
- 2020 - The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare confirms the first case of COVID-19 in Japan.
- 2021 - A 6.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesia's Sulawesi island killing at least 105 and injuring 3,369 people.
- 2022 - The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano erupts, cutting off communications with Tonga and causing a tsunami across the Pacific.
- 2023 - Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashes near Pokhara International Airport, killing all 72 people on board.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1432 - Afonso V of Portugal
- 1462 - Edzard I, Count of East Frisia, German noble
- 1481 - Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shōgun
- 1538 - Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general
- 1595 - Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, English politician
1601–1900
- 1622 - Molière, French actor and playwright
- 1623 - Algernon Sidney, British philosopher
- 1671 - Abraham de la Pryme, English archaeologist and historian
- 1716 - Philip Livingston, American merchant and politician
- 1747 - John Aikin, English surgeon and author
- 1754 - Richard Martin, Irish activist and politician, co-founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- 1791 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian author, poet, and playwright
- 1795 - Alexander Griboyedov, Russian playwright, composer, and poet
- 1803 - Marjorie Fleming, Scottish poet and author
- 1809 - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French economist and politician
- 1815 - William Bickerton, English-American religious leader, third President of the Church of Jesus Christ
- 1834 - Samuel Arza Davenport, American lawyer and politician
- 1840 - Jo Abbott, American judge, politician and Confederate army officer
- 1841 - Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English captain and politician, sixth Governor General of Canada
- 1842 - Josef Breuer, Austrian physician and psychiatrist
- 1842 - Mary MacKillop, Australian nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart
- 1850 - Leonard Darwin, English soldier, eugenicist, and politician
- 1850 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet
- 1850 - Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist
- 1855 - Jacques Damala, Greek-French soldier and actor
- 1858 - Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter
- 1859 - Archibald Peake, English-Australian politician, 25th Premier of South Australia
- 1863 - Wilhelm Marx, German lawyer and politician, 17th Chancellor of Germany
- 1866 - Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, historian, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1869 - Ruby Laffoon, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Kentucky
- 1869 - Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish poet, playwright, and painter
- 1870 - Pierre S. du Pont, American businessman and philanthropist
- 1872 - Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian author and translator
- 1875 - Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and journalist
- 1877 - Lewis Terman, American psychologist, eugenicist, and academic
- 1878 - Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer
- 1879 - Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author and playwright
- 1879 - Ernest Thesiger, English actor
- 1882 - Henry Burr, Canadian singer, radio performer, and producer
- 1882 - Princess Margaret of Connaught
- 1885 - Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and author
- 1885 - Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player
- 1890 - Michiaki Kamada, Japanese admiral
- 1891 - Ray Chapman, American baseball player
- 1893 - Rex Ingram, Irish film director, producer, writer, and actor
- 1893 - Ivor Novello, Welsh singer-songwriter and actor
- 1895 - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1896 - Marjorie Bennett, Australian-American actress